 |
| Seattle Times photgraph |
The grunion
are coming
it is complex
& predictable
they arrive
connected with the moon
men
who have lived longer
run to capture it
this subtle sort of thing that
doesnt happen every night. I'm
not interested. Everything I care for
happens all the time.
I like this poem because love evokes sweet, romantic imagery int he title, and the word "grunion" in the first line is and ugly strange fish. At first I was trying to find the love in this poem, but when I researched the grunion, a strange fish with particular mating rituals, I understood the purpose much better. The grunion females will come on shore during very high tides and dig their tails in the ground to lay eggs, which is what i think Kelly references with "they arrive/connected with the moon". It must be a rather spectacular sight if "men...run to capture it" or perhaps the eggs are used as caviar, an expensive prize. Kelly tho, doesn't care about the grunions, Maybe the last sentence is him referring to his lover, "happens all the time".
